Network Drivers

A network driver is a computer program that acts as a translator between a higher level computer program, like the operating system, and network hardware, such as a network interface card or modem. An example of a network driver at work begins with a typical computer user accessing the internet. When you click the internet shortcut, the operating system signals to the driver to open the network connection, then the driver relays the message to the network hardware device. The network hardware device will relay a message back to the driver telling it that the network is either ready or in an error state.

Installing a Network Driver

When you install new network hardware, you can find the driver on the software installation CD that comes with the product. If your product did not come with a CD or the driver on the CD is out of date you can usually search online for it. This can be done easily with Windows Update for Windows based PC’s, by going to the hardware manufactures website, or by searching the internet and downloading the driver manually.

Common Network Driver Problems

1. The network driver did not install properly and now the hardware does not work.

2. The hardware worked, but then stopped working unexpectedly.

3. You receive error messages related to IP bindings or internet protocols.

4. You cannot connect to the internet to get network drivers.

5. You receive a blue error screen on reboot.

Troubleshooting Network Drivers

Almost every network driver problem can be solved easily by keeping your drivers up to date, and ensuring that your hardware products are compatible with your operating system before purchasing them. If you have just installed a new piece of hardware and and it is not working, the problem could be that the driver is out of date. Sometimes during the time gap between when a product is made and sold to the end user an updated driver will be released, so checking for updates may be necessary even with new products.

If your hardware worked, but then stopped working unexpectedly, you should try reinstalling your driver before replacing your network hardware. The old network driver file may be corrupt due to an improper shut down where the network driver file isn’t put back on the hard drive properly or due to virus activity on the computer.

Internet Protocol error messages are usually caused by out of date network drivers, in this case the drivers should be updated.

If you cannot connect to the internet and do not have an updated driver on CD, then you must find another computer from which to download updated drivers, burn them to a disk or thumb drive. Using the device manager, find network adapters on the device list, click the drivers tab from the drop down menu, then click update driver. In the update driver wizard click browse my computer for driver software to find the driver on your CD or thumb drive.

If you receive a blue error screen after installing a network driver it could be because the driver is incompatible with your operating system. Try rebooting your computer in safe mode then installing the network drivers making sure that they are compatible with your operating system.